


The Consequence

by DashFlintceschi



Series: Illnesses/Disabilities Alphabet Challenge [6]
Category: You Me At Six
Genre: Gen, Josh is sick, Matt's obsession with Nando's is mentioned, his band mates take care of him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-21
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-05 14:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1822150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh learns that eating chicken that tastes weird can have consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Consequence

**Author's Note:**

> F is for food poisoning. Although, technically, it's Salmonella, but it's still food poisoning.

When they get off tour, none of them are surprised when they get a text from Matt the next afternoon, which simply reads _‘Nando’s?’_ None of them hesitate to reply in the affirmative. They all love Nando’s, just nowhere near as much as Matt does, though Chris often wonders if it’s possible for anyone to love Nando’s as much as Matt does.

They meet up outside Nando’s an hour later, talking and laughing as if they haven’t just spent three and a half months squashed together on a small tour bus. They’re seated quite quickly, despite how busy it is, and it’s sooner than expected that they have their food in front of them. As Josh is chewing on a chicken wing, he makes a thoughtful face, then looks to Max, who’s eating the same thing.

“Do these taste a bit weird to you?” He asks, and Max considers it for a moment as he swills his current mouthful around, then shakes his head.

“Mine tastes fine,” he insists, and Josh shrugs, figuring they’ve changed the recipe or something, and continues eating.

Josh realises how bad an idea that was at seven minutes past five the next morning, when he wakes up retching, with horrific pains in his stomach. He barely makes it to the toilet before the rancid, strangely coloured vomit forces its way out. He’s still there six hours later, curled up on the wonderfully cold tile floor, when the knocking on the door turns to hammering, then the spare key rattles in the door, before Dan’s voice rings out through the flat.

“Josh? You were supposed to be at the meeting with our management at nine!” He calls out, as several sets of footsteps make their way through the rooms. Finally, Max finds him as he’s struggling to sit up, retching and groaning at the steadily increasing pains in his stomach. He rushes forward and grabs him under the arms, dragging him in front of the toilet as he shouts for the others.

Once he finally stops vomiting, Max and Chris slowly pull him to his feet and help him stagger back to bed.

“I told you that chicken tasted weird,” he groans weakly as Max helps him sit on the bed and Matt holds out a cold bottle of water with a straw in it, trying to make him drink. “I won’t keep it down,” he insists, pushing it away. Matt keeps trying, though, knowing they need to get something into him, they know he’s probably been vomiting for hours, and he’ll be seriously dehydrated by now. He gives in a takes a few small sips as Dan sits beside him on the bed and slides something cold into Josh’s ear, making him jump and try to pull away.

“Don’t, it’s a thermometer, I can tell just from looking at you that you have a fever, but if it’s too high, we need to take you to the hospital, now hold still,” he explains, and Josh does as he’s told until it beeps and Dan takes it. “101.7, quite bad, but I don’t think we need to worry until it’s getting near 103,” he announces, then helps Josh lie down and get settled. Matt keeps encouraging him to drink as Chris comes out of the bathroom with a bucket and a damp washcloth. He sits the bucket on the floor next to the bed, then rests the folded washcloth over Josh’s forehead to cool him down.

For the first day and a half, the four of them take turns taking care of him, but it soon becomes obvious that he’s only receptive to Dan. Dan’s the only one that can get him to drink anything, the only one that can manage to get him to swallow a few mouthfuls of soup every few hours, the only one who’s rubbing on Josh’s stomach eases the stomach pains, and the only one that can get Josh to go to sleep. Eventually, Dan decides he’ll just stay with Josh until he’s better, doing the most for him, while the others just take turns doing things in the background, making tea and soup, and digging the fan out of the spare room and running cool baths to bring down his temperature.

Finally, on the seventh day, Josh wakes Dan up just after nine in the morning.

“I’m hungry, and for god sake, please don’t make me soup,” he whines, and Dan laughs as he gets out of bed. He returns a few minutes later with dry toast and two mugs of tea. Josh eats happily, and when half an hour’s passed without him feeling sick, Dan helps him out to the living room, where the others are sitting, looking at them in surprise. Dan explains that Josh is feeling better as he helps him settle on the couch, and they fall into easy conversation. They’re all happy to see Josh steadily improving as the day goes on, until Dan makes spaghetti for dinner, and Josh happily demolishes two helpings, with absolutely no sign of any nausea. 

To no-one’s surprise, Josh avoids going near Nando’s for several months, until one day when Matt texts the four of them, asking again if they want to go to Nando’s. He happens to send the text when Josh is craving chicken, so he decides to risk it and sends a reply telling him he’ll be there. He obviously avoids the wings, and when he gets his food, he takes a tiny, experimental bite of the chicken. When he decides it tastes the way it should, he digs in without hesitation. As Josh is taking a huge mouthful of his chocolate cheesecake a while later, Max finally remembers to ask the question that’s been bugging him for months.

“So, how come you only let Dan do stuff for you when you were sick?” He asks, and Josh can’t help the flush that colours his face. He shrugs, in an attempt to avoid having to answer, but his blush has caught their attention, and they all stare at him expectantly until he sighs.

“Fine, I must have been hallucinating or something, but I wouldn’t let any of you near me because I thought you were monsters, and Dan was there to keep the monsters away. Happy now?” He huffs, dropping his eyes to the plate in front of him.

“We’re not going to laugh at you, J. You were sick, you had an almost dangerously high fever. Laughing at you for something like that would just be cruel,” Matt reassures him, and he sighs in relief.

“I’m just glad you didn’t think I was a monster too. Hallucination or not, I’m glad your mind left one of us to help you feel better,” Dan adds, and the three of them nod in agreement, making Josh smile. He should have known he could count on them.


End file.
